An Old Habit
by HarrisM12345
Summary: It was an old habit of Sirius and James’ to stay up too late on the weekends, talking while others were asleep. But what if not everyone was alseep. JAMESxLILY ONESHOT


It was an old habit of Sirius and James' to stay up too late on the weekends at school

It was an old habit of Sirius and James' to stay up too late on the weekends at school. It started when they first wanted to be alone so they and peter could learn to be animaguses, but every night they did it, it made it harder for them to go to bed early, despite the fact Peter and Remus had gotten over it quite easily.

It was late that Saturday night of their seventh and last year at Hogwarts. Very late. So late, they had no worries that anyone would be awake listening. Sirius and James were talking a way they never did during the day. James wasn't trying to sound impressive and Sirius wasn't trying to sound cool, they were both just being themselves, the way they only could in the dead of night. Little did they know that the night had only given them a false sense of security, for as they talked quietly amongst themselves, a soul up the stairs was awake, and could hear their whispering in the quiet of the night, though she could not hear their words. Lily knew it was James and Sirius, they'd kept her awake before, and now she wanted nothing more than to yell at the arrogant toerag and his friend, saying it was for keeping her awake. But the reason she really wanted to yell at James, was not that she couldn't sleep, it was because he was the only person to sincerely bother her. Even Sirius' childish behavior and antics only made her roll her eyes. Her problem with James Potter, was that he did what every boy in the school did to an annoying extent.

She'd long ago gotten used to boys wanting to go out with her because she was pretty, and it sometimes made her hate her own striking beauty, but she told them that she wasn't interested and they found another girl to drool at. But what James did was just infuriating. It was obvious he only liked her for her looks, because he'd barely gotten to know her, and when she'd tell him to buzz off, he'd continue to follow her and beg her to go out with him. She hated that he would follow her until she finally agreed to go out with him, then he would dump her and move on, glad he could say that had never been rejected.

She left her bed and went downstairs to scold them, but stopped the moment their words were audiable

"I envy you and Lily…" Sirius said. James chuckled quietly.

"There is no me and Lily." He retorted. Lily knew she needed to hear this, hoping in would reveal some sort of weakness that she could use to finally get rid of her stalker.

"I envy the _idea_ of you and Lily." Sirius corrected. James laughed again.

"And why is that, Pads" James asked cynically.

"Because I've never met someone and just known they were the one." Sirius said. Lily had to stop herself from laughing; wondering how that could be what he told his friends.

"Neither have I." James said. That was exactly what Lily needed to hear. It was perfect. She began to make her way down the rest of the steps when James continued to speak. "When I first saw Lily, all I noticed was that she was beautiful." Lily stopped again to listen. "But that only lasted the first few days of school. She's still beautiful of course, but I would've given up long ago if I was just interested in her looks."

"So what is it then?" Sirius asked, taking the words out of Lily's mouth.

"It's everything about her that I love. It's her brains, her smile, the twinkle in her eye..." Lily was so astounded, that she hadn't even noticed that she had continued down the stairs. "The way she can see good in everyone, from Remus to Serevus…" Lily turned the corner into the common room, and she saw the back of James' head and the side of Sirius'. "The way she walks with pride, and talks confidently. The way she has a retort for everything…"

"Uh… Prongs…" Sirius said, noticing that Lily was in the room.

"The way she stands her ground, and hangs on 'til the end…"

"Prongs…" Sirius said, now staring at Lily, though Lily didn't seem to notice. But his words were said in vain; James was lost in his thoughts of Lily and no longer heard Sirius.

"The way every word she says hangs in my ear, whether it be pleasant or insulting. The way seeing her smile at another persons joke makes me jealous…"

"James!" Sirius said sternly.

"Huh, what?" James asked, coming out of his trance. Lily was now right behind James, her head resting on her arms, which were folded on his very chair.

"Did you mean it?" Lily asked softly. James jumped with surprise and fell out of his chair. He stared at her, petrified. "Did you mean what you said?" Lily asked again.

"Every word of it." He admitted as he started to rub the bump forming on the back of his head. She walked around the chair and he stood up, their arms were soon wrapped around each other and a moment later, their lips were together.

When they finally stopped kissing, Lily rested her head on James' shoulder.

"I never thought I'd love you…" Lily said.

"I never thought I'd have you in my arms." James said back.

"I never think." Sirius said, breaking the moment. The three of them laughed quietly before Lily and James let go of each other and they all went to bed.

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The next morning, Lily woke up rather late. Her entire room was empty and the sun was fairly high in the shy. She smiled as she remembered everything that happened last night. She rolled out of bed and pulled on her day robes, then went downstairs. Most people had left the common room by now to go do one thing or another with their friends, but James was still sitting at a table, obviously waiting for her.

"Morning." She said to him gently. He looked at her and smiled.

"Morning." He said back. The few younger students in the room were confused about the sudden peace between the two Gryffindors famous for their rows. But they didn't care. They went to breakfast together and sat next to each other, which brought them odd looks from everyone, especially Lily's friends and Remus and Wormtail, who was yet to be let in on the situation.


End file.
